3CT38 - Christmas Cardinal

Hi - Hope you all have been having a great week so far. I took a few days off from Stamping/Blogging this past weekend as it was the PBR Finals. For those of you who aren't familiar with the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) let's just say it was one exciting finish to crown a new Champion. Congratulations Kody - You deserve it!

Okay but now back to card making....This week the challenge for Three Clover Thursday is, (Birds and Bugs) - I don't own many stamps of bugs (icky creatures) but could have found some if I looked really hard. Instead I decided to go with Birds and do a Christmas card (hey, I need to start getting them made pronto!).

I chose the Cardinal Stamp from the retired SU set, (Christmas Cardinal) and stamped it on watercolor paper with Palette Noir Black ink and used various ink pads and my Aqua Painter to watercolor the image. Then I added a tiny bit of Crystal Effects to the berries and colored the birds eye with a Gold Glitter Pen. I cut this out with my Nestabilitie Die and then cut out (by hand)a slightly larger size in Handsome Hunter. My card base is Creamy Caramel layered with Ruby Red cs. The wonderful designer paper is from Die Cuts With a View (DCWV) Holiday Collection. The sentiment is from Annabelle Stamps (Holly Branch) set and was embossed with Topiary Tapestry EP(PSX). The punch is by EK Success (Double Morocco Lace) - Isn't it fabulous!
I added Felt Poinsettia (Hero Arts) brads by Queen and Company and Chili Sprinkles from Annabelle Stamps.

My sketch is from:

This is one of those cards that made me feel really good when I finished it and I hope you like it as well. Be sure to check out the other DT members blogs and leave them some comment lovin